


His Anguish

by Aikori_Ichijouji



Category: Skip Beat!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Hanahaki Disease, Introspection, Kyoko can angst just as hard as Ren does
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:21:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26408638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aikori_Ichijouji/pseuds/Aikori_Ichijouji
Summary: A response fic to AkisMusicBox'sHer Attention. The story, as told from Kyoko's point of view.Yes, I totally pulled a Midnight Sun. I am not ashamed.
Relationships: Mogami Kyoko/Tsuruga Ren
Comments: 8
Kudos: 48





	His Anguish

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AkisMusicBox](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AkisMusicBox/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Her Attention](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26383009) by [AkisMusicBox](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AkisMusicBox/pseuds/AkisMusicBox). 



"I'm not allowed to have someone important to me," he sighed. "I'm in love and it will literally kill me."

"Isn't that a little overdramatic? Even for you," she teased him, batting a wing in his direction.

Beside her, Ren curled forward and the staccato of several ungainly coughs erupted from him. When he pulled his hand away, he held it out to show her. Kyoko reeled backwards in the massive chicken costume, careful not to let the extra weight carry her off the bench and onto the floor. Sprinkled across his fingers, like cheery portents of doom, were three pink petals.

"When I said 'literally,' I meant it." He rubbed the petals from his fingers with a practiced ease before depositing them into his pocket.

She was grateful for the privacy the costume afforded her then. He couldn't see the tears streaking down her cheeks as she watched him in horrified sorrow.

* * *

Her obsession with ensuring that he ate well spoke less of her worries regarding his meal choices and more of her vain attempt to keep his body as healthy as she could while his heart pushed it ever onward towards demise. She'd cook for him. She'd scold him for not eating. And, all the while, she heard the ticking of an invisible clock as it counted down the moments he had remaining, breath by agonizing breath.

It hurt to watch him hide it, knowing he willfully bore the burden alone. There was only so much she could do short of hunting down the woman in question and demanding that she return his feelings. Whoever they were, Kyoko couldn't make them care about him.

Thus, she cared in their stead.

* * *

She hoped the wine jelly would be enough to soothe his throat. She tried not to think about the fact that gelatin was also popular in hospitals. She'd already spied him wheezing into his fist earlier, but was waylaid by Sho's unfortunate appearance before she could go to him. This was a day she knew he needed extra attention. It was a day she knew that his thoughts would be plagued by the person he can't have.

It was supposed to be a day meant to celebrate love.

What a wretched thing, love.

* * *

She sat astride him in that hotel room, clothed more in defiance and desperation than leather and lace. Her chest and eyes burned and she willed them both away to focus on the man sprawled on the bed beneath her. He carried a weight so much heavier than just that of the blossoms that crowded his lungs. Losing him to that darkness was not an option.

Was he simply using her as a surrogate for what he really wanted? She couldn't be sure but, if that's what he needed, she would be that for him too. She would try her damnedest before letting him give in.

Cradling his head in her hands, she begged him with her eyes to keep fighting.

* * *

Kyoko hated that she even felt one shred of reluctance to help her fairy prince. When she was faced with the prospect of bestowing a kiss to her fondest childhood memory, she was wholly unable to treat it like a romantic encounter. Not when he wore the face and spoke with the voice of the man who haunted her dreams, her heart. The man who was killing himself over a love that would never be returned.

Would she, too, suffer the same now? Life had dealt her a cruel enough hand already that she couldn’t rule it out. If such thoughts had been food, they would’ve been bitter and dry and her tastebuds cringed at the mere thought. Still, she agreed because she couldn’t bring herself to stop caring for either of them.

* * *

The moment she laid eyes on that ring, she hated Kimiko with a rabid ferocity. It doubled in potency when she learned the woman had her eyes on another man. How dare she? She toyed with Ren’s feelings to the extent that it became a veritable death sentence. Then she threw him aside the minute something prettier came along.

She sounded an awful lot like someone else Kyoko knew.

* * *

The dandelions he wrapped around her pinky made her sick with unease. That he adorned her hand with flowers when his own lungs were filled with them was insult enough. It was only made worse by the connection to another ring worn by the hateful woman who instigated his disease. What insanity plagued him to mock his own condition like that? The gruesome audacity of it all forced the words out of her mouth before she could stop them.

“You’re a pretty despicable guy.”

* * *

It had been her all along.

Her knees gave out and she sank to the floor of the elevator with Ren still gently holding her hand. She hoped his condition was improving because he was slowly whittling away at his feelings. She thought, maybe, he would fall out of love completely and he would have a chance to move on. A chance to live.

Never would she have guessed that it was because she felt for him just as strongly as he did her. If only she’d known. If only she’d realized it sooner. She would have given her whole heart to him on a gilded platter.

“Take it. It’s yours,” she’d say. “I didn’t know what to do with it anyway.”

But she knew that wasn’t entirely true. She wasn’t ready for him then. If she were honest, she wasn’t sure she was ready for him now. But, she wanted to be, for his sake. She promised herself that every petal he spilled in her name, she would remedy tenfold with everything she bore in her heart for him. The cool weight of the pendant around her neck would be a constant reminder of her resolve.

Because of her, he would live.

Because of him, she would love.

**Author's Note:**

> I had the gall to suggest to Aki that I wanted to know how the other half of the story unfolded if Kyoko had already figured out Ren's condition. That, of course, meant I had to go and write it my damn self.
> 
> Open mouth, insert foot.


End file.
